Seven of America’s biggest healthcare corporations have dodged over $34 billion in collective taxes since the enactment of the 2017 Trump-GOP tax law that Republicans recently succeeded in extending. Meanwhile, patients and customers of those big firms face higher prices and diminished care and service. In fact, the same law that extended the 2017 tax cuts–which mostly benefits the wealthy–is estimated to result in nearly 15 million people losing their healthcare coverage, including 10 million dropped from Medicaid and the rest from the Affordable Care Act marketplace. 

Without reforms to our tax code, those companies stand to avoid even more taxes in the future, helping them grow ever more rich and powerful while their customers and patients suffer. Those are among the findings of a new joint report from Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF) and Community Catalyst based in part on the tax analysis of the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). 

As the tax savings for these seven healthcare firms and the resulting benefits for their executives and stockholders have risen, so have the costs–both financial and persona–paid by their customers and patients. The health insurers have all denied coverage for legitimate care; hospitals have jacked up prices; and healthcare facilities have been found liable for patient harms.  

Congress should demand both more in tax revenue and better patient care from these highly profitable corporations. The corporate tax rate should be raised, and special breaks these and other firms use to lower their tax bills–such as the stock options loophole and the shifting of profits offshore–should be eliminated. Healthcare corporation profitability should not come before quality of patient care. In healthcare more than almost any other industry, the search for ever higher earnings threatens the wellbeing and lives of the American people.